A Look Inside The Yankee Universe (and around the world of baseball)

Something Sort Of Grandish!

Curtis Granderson earns his pinstripes with a game winning HR off of Jonathan Papelbon.

Did Curtis Granderson officially become a Yankee? An extra inning home run off of Jonathan Papelbon at Fenway Park seems to meet all the criteria for such a moment.

While Granderson will get most of the accolades, the three inning performance by Chan Ho Park deserves its fair share. I wasn’t very excited about Park after his Opening Day implosion, but you have to give Girardi credit for sticking with someone in whom he apparently believes. If, and it’s still an if, Park can become an Aceves v.2, then the Yankees bullpen will be strong in deed.

Big Papi got off the snide with an RBI base hit in the third inning, but then struck out in his final two ABs. The sharks in the Boston media will undoubtedly be circling around Big Papi in the coming weeks.

Andy Pettitte recovered from an early game stumble, literally, to pitch six strong innings of one-run ball. On the first play of the game, Andy Pettitte collided with Jacoby Ellsbury while covering the bag on a groundball hit wide of first. Pettitte’s momentum caused him to hit the ground hard, but he continued in the game without any hindrance.

In the bottom of the 5th, Pettitte hit Kevin Youkilis with a pitch that grazed off his helmet. Then, in the top of the 6th, John Lackey plunked Derek Jeter. Considering the history between Youkilis and the Yankees (i.e., Joba), things could have escalated, but both teams seemed to realize that neither pitch was intentional. The umpires did hand out warnings, but there was no further provocation. In fact, Jeter gave Youkilis a playful shove when he reached first base.

Robinson Cano continues to hit the ball hard. Even though he had only one hit in the game, the Red Sox seemed impressed enough to pitch to Arod in the 10th inning despite there being an open base. One of the concerns entering the season was whether Cano would provide enough protection for Arod. In tonight’s game, at least, that question was answered resoundingly.

The Yankees bullpen backed up its 4 shutout innings on Tuesday with another 4 innings of no run relief.

Mark Teixeira, a notorious slow starter, remains hitless on the season. Nick Johnson has also failed to record a hit, but he has walked six times.